Where Do The US Virgin Islands Stand Following the Hurricanes?

Beverly Nicholson-Doty’s extensive tourism experience and expertise have rarely been as severely tested as they were this past fall, when hurricanes Irma and Maria destroyed the wide swaths of U.S. Virgin Islands’ natural terrain and man-made structures.

As the tourism commissioner for the territory, Nicholson-Doty has worked tirelessly to restore crucial tourism activity to the three main islands of St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas.

A former chair of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO)’s council of ministers and commissioners, Nicholson-Doty has a regional perspective on the territory’s rebuilding, describing it as an opportunity to highlight attributes that make Caribbean vacations particularly rewarding.

We spoke recently with Ms. Nicholson-Doty recently to discuss the U.S. Virgin Islands’ tourism plans for 2018 and beyond.

TP: How is the Territory doing overall since September?

BND: Significant portions of our tourism economy have come back. I cannot express my gratitude to many of my colleagues within the cabinet who had challenges with their own homes following the storms but were so supportive of opening roads so we could welcome cruise ships back and linking visitors to areas they want to visit.

It’s been amazing the teamwork we’ve had. When you have storms the impact every facet of life, not once but twice, you have a lot of crossover in support.

As we look to the long term, we recognize that based on limited inventory in the first few months of 2018, the dialogue is on ensuring we have marketing dollars on the federal and local levels. That is an active discussion. I feel confident about that and I also feel there is a lot opportunity for development to happen. Our responsibility as we rebuild is to determine not only how we make our infrastructure stronger but how we make it more visitor-friendly and better for the people who visit.

TP: How has the territory fared in terms of airlift following the September storms?

BND: We are extremely positive in terms of seeing airlines coming back to the destination. Spirit Airlines will begin a new service into St. Croix next month.

In terms of airlift St. Thomas and St. John back to about 50 percent of the pre-storm inventory. That said, with United Airlines return this weekend, all of the airlines that served St. Thomas have returned, although they may not be operating at the same capacity as before.

TP: Do you see the airlines increasing flight capacity to the Territory in the short term?

BND: An increase would be tied to the return of accommodations inventory. Airlines are looking more closely at demand flow and they are being very careful to make sure the accommodations match any increases in flight capacity. One of the things [DOT] has done is to make sure the capacity makes sense for them. The last thing we want is to have them pull out of the territory, having marked it as unsuccessful. It’s really important for us the return to capacity is matched to accommodations and visitor traffic and that we can justify it.

TP: Have you lobbied airlines to add capacity where appropriate?

BND: We have been visiting with airlines on a quarterly basis. In addition we are providing monthly updates so [airlines] know where we stand. To the airlines it’s not just the visitors, but the people who live in the territory who are a critical component. This includes federal workers; there are about 500 federal workers in the territory and that doesn’t account for construction [workers], insurance adjusters and other people who are [flying]. This is what we are providing to airlines so they can be sure about demand. This has to be mutually beneficial.

TP: Hotels across St. Thomas were heavily damaged by the September hurricanes. How would you describe the status of the hotel and resort sectors in St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas?

BND: St. Croix sustained less damage, so we have more inventory there. They are probably at 70 to 75 percent in terms of [resort] inventory. In terms of overall product St. Croix is good.

We recently completed a food and wine festival there, and coming up for Memorial Day weekend is an Agriculture and Food Fair, a celebration of Cruzan food and culture. At the end of the year we are hosting a new triathlon in St. Croix; that is in addition to several other sports activities going on, including a swimming competition from Buccaneer Island to Buck Island later this year.

St. Thomas and St. John are limited to the return of inventory. The Marriott Cove [a section of St. Thomas’ Marriot Frenchman’s Reef resort] re-opened in February. We will see the Bolongo Bay resort fully open in June.

We expect to see the next wave of hotels coming back online in late 2018, the first quarter of 2019 and through the year, including the Ritz Carlton, St, Thomas, the Sugar Bay Resort & Spa and the Westin St. John.

TP: How about the cruise sector? The U.S. Virgin Islands is normally among the world’s most visited cruise ship destinations.

The cruise season runs from October to October and for 2017 we will end the year at just over 1.5 million cruise passengers. Considering we missed 60 days, we will finish the year slightly lower. But our cruise calls are back on schedule and we have the restaurants, activities and shopping back.

St. Croix is more than 80 percent back to pre-storm levels in terms of cruise ship visitors. That may even be a little higher; we were saying 80 percent based on the winter; now that we are going into the summer it would have increased.

TP: How is the Territory addressing the certainty of future crippling storms?

BND: We continue to do the work on the tourism side, but also at large which is extremely important for getting back to a sense of normalcy. That includes the rebuilding of homes, roads and hospitals.

To that end, our governor [Kenneth Mapp] has been focused on being sure we harden the infrastructure because where we are geographically we will always face our share of storms. It is important for us to do everything we can to be resilient infrastructure from our homes and buildings to our power facilities.

Our schools are also shelters. So it’s crucial we know everything we can about building appropriate structures.

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